Tom Hamilton, TransCanada’s manager of compliance and quality, had just begun his talk at Pipe Tech Americas 2013 conference at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel in Houston. All of a sudden he was upstaged by Ramsey Sprague, an organizer from Texas with Tar Sands Blockade, who sneaked into the conference wearing suit and tie and a cowboy hat to convey a message about the safety lapses and the environmental impact of the Keystone tar sands pipeline that Hamilton works on.

Sprague locked himself to the audio visual equipment and then proceeded to tell the executives at about how his group had photographed daylight coming through holes in welds connecting segments of the actual pipeline during a protest in Winona, Texas, last December. (The pictures were taken by three activists who locked themselves inside the pipeline) While conference security officials attempted to unlock him, Sprague took advantage of the time to address the audience.

"TransCanada’s safety record is beyond deplorable. Their wanton disregard for the health of our communities is demonstrated by their countless toxic tar sands spills,” Sprague told the assembled industry executives. "Toxic tar sands extraction should not be allowed to continue.” (Watch the video of Sprague’s speech here)

Canada is already the U.S.’s largest petroleum importer, shipping roughly 2.2 million barrels a day - much of which is from tar sands. The Keystone XL pipeline will carry an additional 1.1 million barrels of crude oil extracted from Alberta 1,700 miles to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast, where it could then be processed for export overseas.

But the pipeline has been delayed for four years pending approval from the U.S. State Department which has final say because it crosses the international border. The State Department announced last week that it was pushing back the release of its environmental review one more time to the beginning of April.

"We don't anticipate being able to conclude our own review before the end of the first quarter of this year," said Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman at the State Department said at a press briefing.

Last year, Obama denied a permit for the pipeline’s construction, in part due to concern about the potential damage to the Oglalla aquifer in Nebraska, which is an important source of water for Great Plains states. But he allowed TransCanada to reapply for a permit for an alternate route. He also allowed for TransCanada to begin construction on the southern section of the pipeline last August.

“TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline from the oilsands to a new market on the U.S. Gulf Coast is the most significant proposal awaiting approval,” the report stated. “Other alternatives to ship oilsands to the west or east coast of Canada will, for the short to medium term, play a less dominant role in accelerating oilsands development. These other proposals are smaller in pipeline capacity than Keystone XL, are in the very early stages of development, or face major public opposition.”

(The proposal to label tar sands oil as emitting 22 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional oil is tied to legislation that requires the EU to reduce carbon emissions from transport fuel sold in Europe by six percent by 2020)

“This is a David versus Goliath situation, where an unethical, transnational corporation is using its weight to crush First Amendment rights of people speaking out,” said Lauren Regan, an attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center who represents the activists.

Today’s conference protest, however, does not appear to violate the agreement, and suggests that more creative disruptions are to dog the tar sands industry.